Question

Difficulty: EasyRouting Concepts and Dynamic Routing Protocols

A network technician is configuring dynamic routing on an enterprise network to ensure efficient traffic forwarding across multiple subnets. The technician needs a interior gateway protocol that maintains a complete topological database of the network using link-state information. Which of the following dynamic routing protocols meets this requirement?

  1. Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)Answer
  2. B
    Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
  3. C
    Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
  4. D
    Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)

Answer

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is an Interior Gateway Protocol that uses link-state advertisements to build a full map of the network topology and dynamically route Layer 3 traffic.
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a link-state Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) designed to exchange routing information within a single autonomous system. Each OSPF router collects link-state advertisements (LSAs) from neighbor routers to build a complete link-state database (LSDB), representing a map of the network topology.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the routing requirement stated in the scenario
The requirement specifies an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) that uses link-state information to build a complete topological map of the network.
Different routing protocols use distinct operational metrics and algorithms (e.g., link-state vs. distance-vector).
2
Evaluate the functional role of Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
OSPF is an open standard Layer 3 link-state protocol that uses Link-State Advertisements (LSAs) to form neighbor relationships and calculate optimal paths.
OSPF satisfies both the link-state criteria and the interior network routing requirement.
3
Differentiate OSPF from non-routing protocols presented in the choices
Protocols such as STP, DHCP, and ARP perform switching, address assignment, and Layer 2 resolution functions rather than dynamic inter-network routing.
Only Layer 3 dynamic routing protocols exchange network reachability metrics to populate IP routing tables.

Key Concept

Link-state dynamic routing protocols (such as OSPF) flood network topology information to build complete network maps and calculate shortest paths across Layer 3 subnets.
Estimated Time:45s
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